


Forget me (not)

by Myrsky



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: M/M, Temporary Amnesia, Tony Stark-centric, teensy bit of angst?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-15
Updated: 2015-06-15
Packaged: 2018-04-04 13:54:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,835
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4140258
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Myrsky/pseuds/Myrsky
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Every inch of his body hurts. Waking up not-on-his-bed hurts more.</p>
<p>Has he been kidnapped again? Why is he at hospital? Who is that man (not that he isn't gorgeous, but why does he want to hold his hand?) Where are his friends?</p>
<p>[hospital setting, brief mention of a car accident]</p>
            </blockquote>





	Forget me (not)

He opened his eyes slowly, his head pounding and his ears ringing from all the blood that must have pooled somewhere into his skull. Preferably, not his brain this time, he has had more than enough concussions for a lifetime... enough to know that hoping for it to not to be a concussion is absurd. He has the hugest concussion that he can recall... Recall being the key word there.

Upon moving, just enough to lift his torso from the _wet?_ floor, he can also feel the blood on his lips – he must have bitten them, but he doesn't remember the accident at all. Kind of perturbing, to try to think about how his injuries were done and come out blank...

“Ugh. Jarvis?”

“Do not move, Sir, help is on its way.” It's a weird feeling, because Jarvis' voice sounds very far away from him and his ears are still ringing.

He lays back again on the floor, sputtering some blood over himself.

He's not wearing the Iron Man's suit. Not at the workshop. Then why everything hurts so bad? And why there's so much light? It hurts to look around...

Where...?

* * *

The next time that he opens his eyes, he is somewhere else. He can't recognize this one either, but he can recognize the general location as an hospital. White walls, ugly items in greenish colours.

What is he doing here, all alone?

Where's Pep? Where's Happy? Why is he not at medical at home?

He hears a low clicking sound, just like a gun, that makes him almost jump on his place, but the voice that follows helps in calming him. Door? Why everything keeps sounding so far away?

“Tony! Thanks god, you are awake!” The man runs to his bed, hands shaky and kneels next to him, grabbing his hand. One of his arms is metallic. That's cool. His hair is long and pretty. The man is fucking attractive but... who the hell is he and what's he doing there?

“What...?” He shakes his hand out of the other's reach, and somehow the happy smile that the guy was wearing falters down to nothing.

“There was an... accident.” The man answers, trying to stay calm. Which is kinda making him nervous. Accident? Yes, he guessed as much. But where? How? What happened?

“Where's Pep?” He asks while bringing his hand back to his chest. He doesn't want the man grabbing it again.

“She's at home, catching some sleep.”

“Could you call her?”

“Yeah, I guess, she'll love to know that you're awake.” The man stands up and walks back to the door, taking his phone and talking hushedly with Pep. There's no doubt of Pep being on the other end, because he does bring the phone over for him to say hi.

When he gives back the phone, the man smiles at him and pushes back the hair from his temple, making him shiver. The guy is just so loving that it gives him the creeps.

There's some important piece missing there. He needs Pep.

“Gunna tell the doctors you are awake. Better run all the tests before Virginia arrives.” The man, who has a damnly marked Brooklyn's accent – and why does that feel important? – caresses his cheek with his metallic hand before leaving the room.

Doctors come in a moment later, making all kind of tests on him while the man is sitting at the visitors' chair. Not even once the doctors ask him to leave, but he is still no closer to knowing who that person is.

His ears get checked again, after he says that his hearing isn't as good as it used to. His eardrums might have been damaged, the doctors say. The man keeps shifting on his seat, looking quite distressed.

There's a new scar running from his knee to his hip. His ribs have been cracked.

And he still doesn't know what happened to him.

Pepper arrives shortly after the doctors leave and she hugs him tight, almost painfully tight, turning back to talk with the man seconds later. They are whispering and he can't hear them at all. Rude. She doesn't know about his eardrums but it's still rude. Pepper hugs the man and he goes back to the chair, falling asleep shortly after, head still pointed in their direction.

She grabs his hand and stays still, silent, looking sometimes at the asleep man on the chair.

“Bucky was so worried about you, Tony.”

“Who the hell is Bucky?” He mutters, looking at her pointedly and not wanting to wake the man up.

Pep goes pale at that. Actually, paler than a sheet of paper. And she looks between the man and him, as if she couldn't believe his words.

“Tony? What's the last thing you remember? Before the accident?”

“Reconstructing Malibu's house after you dumped my sorry ass?” Her eyes grow wider at his words, like she can't believe what she's hearing “Where am I, Pep, what's wrong?”

But it's too late because she's already running out of the room, calling for a neurologist.

* * *

The man actually disappears from the room after the doctors come to check him. It worries him, on some level – who the hell is Bucky, really, and what has happened to him and... what more doesn't he remember.

Pepper is almost constantly with him, even when the other Avengers are visiting, controlling that they don't tell him anything about what happened in the time that he doesn't remember.

It's infuriating. There are two years of his life that he can't remember and none will tell him anything about them. And the man has disappeared for good.

Rhodey visits, Pep visits, Steve visits, Bruce visits, even the spies visit.

Not the man. Never the man. Upsetting.

Why can't he stop thinking about this mysterious presence?

* * *

It's not until days later that the man comes back. It's late in the evening and Steve is staying with him, ready to stay for the night. Pepper had been staying over all the nights before but she has a meeting early in the morning... and Steve volunteered to stay over, as the good samaritan that he is.

“Hi.” He tells to the stranger, making Steve bolt from his place on the couch. The man waves at him, and Steve quickly stands up to let the man sit down, even if the man is shaking his head.

“Steve, please? I want to talk to him.”

Steve nods, leaving the room quickly after hugging the man. Okay, so he has both Steve's and Pepper's trust. He must be good. Why doesn't he remember him at all, then?

“Hello. I am Tony.”

The guy huffs, even if he smiles at him. “Bucky. But I remember you perfectly, punk, no need to introduce yourself.”

“Punk? What...” He opens his eyes wide, before squinting to look again at the man's features. “No fuckin' way on hell, you are _that_ Bucky! Are you all coming out of the freezer or what?”

“Sergeant James Buchanan Barnes, at your service.” The man... _Bucky_ nods, sitting down at last. “What do you want to talk about, Tony?”

“I need...” He stumbles on his words, shutting up.

“Yes?” Bucky is almost on his toes while sitting, ready to run to get whatever he needs. Why...?

“I don't know. I mean, I don't know what I need because I don't remember anything. Can you even understand that?”

Bucky's face goes completely blank at that. “Yes, Tony. I can.”

“What happened to you?” Both of them are frowning by now, Bucky lost in his thoughts and he... because he wants to know, damn it.

“I guess... I can tell you that. I didn't spend all of my 70 years in the ice. I was used as a weapon and had my memories wiped again and again and again.”

“Hard. I don't remember a couple of years now and I have this... weird weight on my heart.” Bucky looks at him with interest, so he keeps talking “You know, like I am missing half of my life. And I don't remember what is so wrong.”

“What do you know?”

“I know that when Pepper left me, I had this hole in my heart. I didn't feel, I didn't want to think. I was empty. But now that hole is filled and my heart is warm... I miss... someone. I'd like to know...”

Bucky smiles softly and he feels like his heart is making a back flip. “The doctors say you may recover your memories soon.”

“Everyone says that. I don't feel any closer.”

“We all will be here for you.” Bucky brushes his fingers against Tony's hair again, tucking the loose strands away from his eyes. Bucky must be a tactile person as well and he certainly loves that.

“I am sorry.”

“Why for, Tony?” Bucky's voice is tender and he almost feels the need to purr.

“When I woke up. I didn't know you, I was scared. I thought I had been kidnapped again.” Bucky holds his hand again and Tony entwines their fingers, it's automatic, like a skin memory “I didn't know what to do with your affection.”

“None imagined you had lost your memories, Tony.” Bucky sighs “I'm sorry I scared you.”

“What the fuck happened?” He asks once again, holding Bucky's hand tighter.

“There was a bomb under your car. It flipped on the air. You... fled out of the car.” Bucky closes his eyes and lowers his head to the bed, his lips almost brushing against their hands.

“Why would none tell me that?” His other hand moves, almost on its own again, to touch Bucky's hair, stroking it, stroking his head like Bucky was a cat.

“It's not the accident. You were going... somewhere else.” Bucky sighs and they stay silent and still until Steve comes back. Steve looks at them with a dreamy smile that Tony can't really understand and Bucky doesn't move at all. He has fallen asleep and Tony doesn't want to wake him up, not at all. He needs to _protect_ Bucky. Yeah, he needs to protect the tall, broad and muscular man with the iron's arm.

Steve leaves and Bucky is still asleep on the bed. He eventually curls on the bed, bringing his face close to Bucky's, close enough to feel him move as he breathes. Close enough to feel his warmth.

It's easy to fall asleep like that. Comfortable.

Familiar.

* * *

When he opens his eyes, relief washes over him. Bucky is still sleeping, his eyes closed and he has an angelic smile, relaxed to be near him, to be able to breathe in his scent.

“Buck?”

Bucky hums lightly, not opening his eyes at all, simply nuzzling against his neck.

“I'm sorry I missed the big day. I love you.” He places a hand in Bucky's cheek, lighter than a caress.

Bucky, however, opens his eyes in a flash and pins him down to the bed, kissing him like he has never been kissed before.


End file.
